Methods and assemblies have been provided for removing chemical contaminants from earth-like material. Some of these methods and assemblies use biological agents or bacteria to dissolve the contaminants. Other methods and assemblies remove the contaminants through thermal procedures such as burning. In general, however, the methods and assemblies which utilize biological agents or thermal procedures have difficulties processing material having a contaminant content above 15,000 parts per million.
Other methods and assemblies use solutions to cleanse the material and remove the contaminants therefrom. However, most of these methods and assemblies are material specific and not capable of washing a variety of materials. In addition, many of these methods and assemblies are not capable of washing materials such as soil or mud in which contaminants can be absorbed. Furthermore, many of these methods and assemblies use petrochemical solvents and other environmentally harmful elements and, as a result, produce harmful and often unpredictable side effects.